For the second year in a row, Area Development has conducted a survey of a select group of highly respected location consultants who work with a nationwide client base. We asked the consultants to name their top-5 state choices in 12 site selection categories. Here are the top overall states:

Area Development Special Presentation (Fall 2011)

States were ranked in each of the 12 site selection categories based on the number of times they were
named as a "top-5" choice by the responding consultants.
Next, a top-5 state's ranking in each of the 12
categories was assigned a weight in accordance with
its position in these individual categories. Based on
these total weighted scores, Texas is far and away the
consultants' #1 choice for doing business, followed by Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina (with
weighted scores only a point apart), and finally
Indiana in the #5 spot. Taking the #6-#10 rankings
based on weighted scores are Louisiana, North
Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and - surprisingly
- California, in that order.